A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article two-a, chapter
twenty-four of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the public service
commission; and reduced rates for low-income customers of
electricity and gas; and persons who are sixty-five years of
age or older.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That section one, article two-a, chapter twenty-four of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

receiving Social Security Supplemental Security Income (SSI),
Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), Aid to Families with Dependent Children--Unemployed (AFDC-U) or food
stamps.

The commission shall order each gas and electric utility
subject to its jurisdiction, except municipal or cooperative gas or
electric utilities, to offer special reduced rates applicable to
gas and electric service for the billing months of December,
January, February, March and April of each year (beginning with the
billing month of December, one thousand nine hundred eighty-three),
to residential utility customers receiving: (a) Social security
supplemental security income (SSI); (b) aid to families with
dependent children (AFDC); (c) aid to families with dependent
children--unemployed (AFDC-U); or (d) food stamps, if such food
stamp recipients are sixty years of age or older; or (e) social
security retirement benefits, if such persons are sixty-five years
of age or older. The special reduced rate offered by each gas and
electric utility to its eligible customers shall be twenty percent
less than the rate which would be applicable to such customers if
they were not receiving any of the four forms of assistance which
confer eligibility for the special reduced rates. A customer of a
utility offering special reduced rates shall be eligible to receive
such rates for each of the billing months of December, January,
February, March and April that correlates to a calendar month
during which that customer is eligible to participate in one or
more of the qualifying programs specified in this section, except

as otherwise provided in this section. The correlation of billing
months to calendar months of eligibility to participate in a
qualifying program is as follows: A December billing month
correlates to the calendar month of November; a January billing
month correlates to the calendar month of December; a February
billing month correlates to the calendar month of January; a March
billing month correlates to the calendar month of February; and an
April billing month correlates to the calendar month of March.
After the billing month of April, one thousand nine hundred
eighty-four, no customer shall be eligible to receive the special
reduced rates until the billing month in which that customer
applies for such rates. For the billing months of December, one
thousand nine hundred eighty-three, and January, February, March
and April, one thousand nine hundred eighty-four, a customer shall
be eligible to receive a utility's special reduced rates for any of
said billing months which correlates to a calendar month during
which that customer is eligible to participate in one or more of
the qualifying programs specified in this section, regardless of
the date on which that customer applies for such rates: Provided,
That the date of application falls on or prior to the fifteenth day
of May, one thousand nine hundred eighty-four. No customer who
applies for the special reduced rates after the fifteenth day of
May, one thousand nine hundred eighty-four, shall be eligible to
receive such rates for any of the billing months of December, one thousand nine hundred eighty-three, or January, February, March or
April, one thousand nine hundred eighty-four. Before any
individual may qualify to receive the special reduced rates, the
following requirements must be met:

(a) The special reduced rates shall apply only to current
customers or to those persons who subsequently become customers in
their own right. If an SSI, AFDC, AFDC-U, or food stamp or social
security retirement recipient is living in a household which is
served under the name of a person who is not an SSI, AFDC, AFDC-U,
or food stamp or social security retirement recipient, that service
may not be changed or have been changed subsequent to the twelfth
day of March, one thousand nine hundred eighty-three, to the name
of the SSI, AFDC, AFDC-U, or food stamp or social security
retirement recipient in order to qualify for service under the
special reduced rates.

(b) The burden of proving eligibility for the special reduced
rates shall be on the customer requesting such rates. The
department of human services shall establish by rules and
regulations procedures: (1) To inform persons receiving any of the
four forms of assistance which confer eligibility for the special
reduced rates about the availability of the special reduced rates;
(2) to assist applicants for the special reduced rates in proving
their eligibility therefor; and (3) to assist gas and electric
utilities offering the special reduced rates in determining on a

continuing basis the eligibility therefor of persons receiving or
applying for such rates. The commission shall establish by rules
and regulations procedures for the application for and provision of
service under the special reduced rates and for the determination
and certification of revenue deficiencies resulting from the
special reduced rates. Within ten days of the effective date of
this article, the commission and the department of human services
shall adopt temporary rules, and regulations as required by this
section, which rules and regulations shall not be subject to the
requirements of chapter twenty-nine-a and section seven, article
one of chapter twenty-four except that they shall be filed with the
secretary of state and published in the state register. These
temporary rules and regulations shall remain in effect until
supplanted by permanent rules, and regulations which shall be
adopted by the commission and the department of human services
within one hundred eighty days of the effective date of this
article. No customer who is a recipient of more than one of the
four forms of assistance which confer eligibility for the special
reduced rates shall be eligible for more than one twenty percent
discount for gas service and one twenty percent discount for
electric service during each billing month that said customer is
eligible to receive the special reduced rates.

(c) In order to provide each eligible residential utility
customer the special reduced rates for the billing months of

December, one thousand nine hundred eighty-three, through April,
one thousand nine hundred eighty-four, (hereinafter referred to as
the first special-reduced-rate season), each utility providing the
special reduced rates shall credit against the amount otherwise
owed by each such customer an amount equal to the difference
between the total amount that each such customer was actually
billed during the first special-reduced-rate season and the total
amount that each customer would have been entitled to be billed
under the special reduced rates. Each such credit shall be fully
reflected on the first bill issued to each such customer after
approval of each such customer's application for the special
reduced rates, except in cases where the interval between the
approval and the issuance of the next bill is so short that it is
administratively impracticable to do so, in which cases such
credits shall be fully reflected on the second bill issued to each
such customer after approval of that customer's application. If
the interval between the approval and the issuance of the next bill
is fifteen days or more, it shall not be deemed administratively
impracticable to reflect such credit on the customer's first such
bill.

NOTE: The Purpose of this bill is to provide reduced rates
for persons who are sixty-five years of age or older and who
receive social security retirement income and who are customers of
electricity and gas.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.